Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Movie Review: Zombieland

"Zombieland" opened this past weekend. It's the latest zombie movie and it's a comedy. It's not like "Shawn of the Dead" which was a romantic/zombie/comedy. Ok, I guess that "Zombieland" would technically fall under the same classification, but it's not the same.

"Shawn" was terribly British.
"Zombieland" is terribly Fratish.

By this I mean that we sat down and felt the atmosphere of a frat house settle around us as the seats filled. Lots of college aged males coming in groups and talking loudly. From what I'd seen of the trailers this seemed appropriate. As the movie progressed it seemed even more appropriate.

The movie starts with your basic zombie movie premise. The dead have risen and killed off most of the population... who then rose from the dead to help kill off the population. The main character and narrator is an unlikely survivor. He's a video game playing recluse with a long list of rules that he explains to us as the movie goes on. He meets up with Woody Harrelson who is his opposite in every way. He's a loud, crass, live in the moment, gun slinging Twinkie™ lover. So, naturally, they decide to travel together. Then they meet a couple of girls and, after a bit, travel with them.

Together they head for an amusement park in California that is rumored to be zombie free. While in the neighborhood they have an extremely contrived, a bit awkward, but still funny stay at Bill Murray's mansion.

I enjoyed the movie and laughed a lot. Not sure if I want it on DVD. It's a movie that's really best watched with a group of friends. Kinda like how "Saturday Night Live" is funnier with a group than it is when watched alone.

3 comments:

Sweetly Single said...

The previews totally remind me of Army of Darkness

I'm looking forward to seeing it....if only for a good old fashion zombie b-movie weekend

GreenCanary said...

This movie cracked me up. It was the perfect blend of humor and gore, and the varying storylines of the characters kept it fresh. But I totally second the fratishness of the atmosphere... One got the impression that the males in the theater were the type to give eachother wedgies and shove nerds in trash cans.

Der_Muffinmann said...

I really enjoyed this movie. I went to see it with a group of about 40 people most of whom were dressed as zombies on opening night. It was good because the weird, geeky people dominated the theater. Thank you meetup.com.